L2/L3 CBD and Southeast Light Rail
The CBD & Southeast Light Rail, also known as the L2/L3 City & Southeast Light Rail, refers to an ongoing infrastructure project aiming to link the Randwick LGA and Sydney CBD by Light Rail. The project consists of a single line from Circular Quay to Moore Park wherein it splits into two branches, with 4 stops towards Randwick and 5 towards Kingsford. A total of 19 stops will be built along 12km of new track, complemented by a fleet of 60 Alstom Citadis X05 Light Rail Vehicles (LRV). The L2 line, from Circular Quay to Randwick, began operations on 14th December 2019. The Kingsford branch will later follow with an expected start date of March 2020. There was free travel on the first weekend of service (14th-15th December 2019). Services Much like the Sydney Metro, the City and Southeast Line will be built around a “turn-up-and-go” format. To support this, a fleet of 60 new Alstom Citadis X05 LRV's will be deployed to the line. These trams will operate in a 10-car formation, consisting of two 5-car sets. This is to increase onboard capacity, accommodating higher patronage for the route’s major destinations, such as the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and areas in the Moore Park precinct, including Sydney Cricket Ground and the Entertainment Quarter. The Sydney and Southeast Line will be the only Light Rail line to use the Citadis fleet, as all other lines use Urbos 3 units. Each branch runs at a frequency of 8 minutes, meaning the core section (Circular Quay-Moore Park) runs at a frequency of 4 minutes. Because the L3 branch is not yet open, the gaps in service in the core section are being filled by additional L2 services between Central and Circular Quay. Bus Network After services commence, it is likely that the Eastern Suburbs bus network will undergo a major restructure with some routes to be truncated to run to Randwick or Juniors Kingsford interchanges instead of the City, with customers being required to interchange for the new light rail to continue their journey. Services terminating at Central Railway Square are expected to instead terminate at the new Haymarket Bus Interchange. Some routes may also be merged or scrapped entirely to accommodate for the new system. Routes 373, 376, 395 and 396 (all operated by State Transit Authority) are expected to be scrapped, while routes M10 and M50 (both run by Transit Systems Inner West) will be likely be truncated to run from Leichhardt and Drummoyne respectively to the CBD only, requiring light rail interchange to access buses from Juniors Kingsford and Randwick to the current Maroubra and Coogee destinations. Other Eastern Suburbs bus services connecting to the City are also expected to be truncated by being diverted away from the CBD in favour of terminating at Edgecliff, requiring customers travelling to/from the CBD to interchange with the light rail. Activists also criticised the lower capacity, lack of seating and the standing-room-only model in favour of an extension of the Eastern Suburbs Line from its current terminus of Bondi Junction to Kingsford, in order to try and take pressure off the light rail due to the removed bus services. This is due to growing fears that bus services in Bondi Junction may be put under further strain due to the removal of services close to the light rail route. Stations Promotional Material File:Using_the_new_light_rail File:Safety_on_the_system File:Geared_towards_sustainability File:Accessible_and_comfortable File:Heads_up_around_Sydney’s_new_light_rail File:Heads_up!_Play_it_safe_around_Sydney’s_new_light_rail File:Heads_Up!_Light_rail_driver_safety_tips_1 File:Heads_Up!_Light_rail_driver_safety_tips_2 File:Heads_Up!_Light_rail_driver_safety_tips_3 See Also *Alstom Citadis X05 *Light Rail in New South Wales *L1 Dulwich Hill Light Rail *Parramatta Light Rail - another Light Rail project currently under construction. External Links * https://sydneylightrail.transport.nsw.gov.au * https://transportnsw.info/news/2019/sydneys-new-light-rail-opens-14-december Category:Light Rail Category:Upcoming Projects Category:Light Rail lines Category:City of Sydney Category:City of Randwick